Itadakimasu! Legend of the Royal Chopsticks
by Akasora-senpai
Summary: She didn't know two strips of crimson, lacquered, tapered wood with shining golden patterns could change history and threaten her life. Inspired by the game 'Youda Sushi Chef' and the song 'Evil Food Eater Conchita'. Kaito x Meiko.
1. Sushi Arc I

**A/N: 1. This story shares the same universe with my other fic "_Singin' UWAAAAH!_" (if you haven't read it then I recommend you to go read it!), and takes place _after _my other fic. So this should explain why Miku would probably not appear _at all_ in this story: -spoiler- because in my other fic Miku _has gone to Italy _and _doesn't come back _so yeah... If possible, I promise I'll give her some mentions or appearances in future chapters :)**

**2. ****This story is part of my _21st Century Tokyo _trilogy, intended to consist the stories: this, _Singin' UWAAAAH!_ and _Of Knowledge, Determination and Crazy Pandas _(in progress), all sharing one universe and connected in one way or another.**

******3. Meiko doesn't have a last name, but I'll refer to her as Sakine Meiko in this fic because all characters in the _21st Century Tokyo _series have last names. The Meiko in this story is the normal, canon Meiko, the one who sings "Evil Food Eater Conchita", not the 16-year-old one.**

******Onwards!**

* * *

**_Akasora Pictures Presents_**

_Vocaloid the Movie_

**Legend of the Royal Chopsticks**

Starring MEIKO

_Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan._

The brunette's chocolate eyes sparkled in amazement as she pushed the sliding _shoji _door open, taking her along with several of her friends into the utopia otherwise known as the Matsuri-hime sushi restaurant. She soon felt herself engulfed with warmth from the soft yellow light from the paper lanterns, the elegant red from the velvet curtains dangling beautifully from the ceiling and the loveliness of fake red momiji trees greeting her at the door - fake trees were fake, but they were still pretty.

"See? I told you this place is awesome!" - said one of her companions with a petite build and blond hair, snatching her fantasy away and, as a result, reminded her that she was feeling almost suffocated with heat in her kimono a few seconds ago. It was not that she decided to wear it herself!

"Indeed..." - she replied. Although a part of her mind still cursed her blonde friend with all its might for she suggested her to wear the goddamn thick outfit in the middle of summer with layers and all ("of course today's your birthday, Meiko-chan, you should wear something special! And remember, do _not _wear a yukata if you don't want boys to stare at you!"), the rest had long made the blondie God as she recommended such an amazing place for the brunette's 18th birthday party.

"There are 4 empty seats near the conveyor belt over there!" - chirped the shortest female again cheerfully as she took the other three with her to the said seats. Sitting down - albeit a little difficultly - Sakine Meiko threw her glance off to the side just to have the image of her pink-haired friend's - Megurine Luka's - long, slender, snow white legs crossed in a downright suggestive manner, which even further exposed her undergarments naturally caught glimpses of thanks to the slits of her extremely short China dress. _And she said she didn't want boys to stare at me... _thought Meiko in a bit of jealousy as she counted how many stares the pink-haired was gaining; it was her birthday so she kind of wanted most of attention to be towards her. _It's a shame Miku isn't here... _she sighed. Miku was an expert at reading other people's moods and she sure knew how to comfort the brunette in times like this. And now since she already knew the last one of the four, Megpoid Gumi, was sweet and caring at heart, the only thing she'd ever wished for since the day Miku moved away was that the messy grass-green-haired would look away from her books and open herself a little bit more.

Her thoughts were cut short, sharply as if it had been by a katana. It was because the sight of an almost slimy-green-haired dressed in the restaurant's kimono uniform glaring at her, _her _with all his might was clearly reflecting in Meiko's surprisingly sharp brown eyes. For a moment, she thought she was mistaking. But no, the man wearing a sparkling tag on his chest with the characters that read: "_Watanabe Wasabi_" etched proudly in the center was paying no ounce of attention to the suggestive pink-haired. He was staring at _her_.

Too absorbed in her thoughts and logical reasoning, the brunette hardly noticed several "Itadakimasu" sounding at once next to her. The next thing she heard was from no one other than her blond friend: "Meiko-chan, aren't you gonna eat or what?"

"Oh, yes..." - the only kimono-clad one of the group of four quickly whipped around, facing the smoothly running conveyor belt carrying dishes after dishes of mouth-watering little pieces of _washoku _items. Silently, she lifted the porcelain plate of _nigiri-zushi_, placing it on the part of the table in front of her, holding her - _extremely beautiful - _chopsticks in a typical _itadakimasu _posture before mumbling the said word quietly and began digging down.

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**End of part 1**

_**Translations:** washoku: _traditional Japanese cuisine.

**Behind the Scenes: I have some OCs in this fic, such as Watanabe Wasabi. He's inspired by Kobayashi Matcha and Masaoka Azuki (named after a Japanese cooking ingredient and bearing a common Japanese surname)**


	2. Sushi Arc II

Actually, the brunette didn't dig in her sushi right away; instead, she remained at her "itadakimasu" pose for the matter of a few more seconds to examine the work of arts in the form of two long pointy sticks of wood between her thumbs and the rest of her fingers. She had never seen such a beautiful pair of chopsticks, even in the same restaurant - everyone else including her friends was given plain black ones. Not Meiko. The ones she had were attractively crimson, slightly reflecting the soft light shining on them. The larger ends of the sticks were adorned with fine, elegant patterns sparkling in a gold shade, depicting autumn momiji leaves. _This,_ she thought, _is art._

But as quickly as she found herself in her own fantasy, she reminded herself to finish her food. Carefully picking up the piece of rice topped with a thin slice of salmon, she lowered the food into the tiny dish half filled with _shouyu_ until a small corner of it was dipped in the sauce. She then proceeded to place the sushi into her awaiting mouth.

_Did they make this with any secret ingredients?_ thought the brunette delightfully as the flavors danced on her tongue. The fresh rawness of the salmon and delicious scent of the vinegar rice mixed with the rich, deep saltiness of the soy sauce, which was already far too similar to her, yet then felt just like heaven's food, the very, very finest of sushi art. She wished that the little piece of rice topped with raw fish didn't dissolve in her mouth so quickly. As if catching lightning, she lifted another dish off of the conveyor belt. The image of the colorful _maki-zushi _reflected in her honey brown eyes and her mouth watered. And then...

_Swoosh._

_Clack._

"W... what the... what the _hell _are you doing?" - pupils narrowing, mouth gaping, Meiko found herself unable to believe what was happening. The short man with mustard green hair whom she _knew _was staring at her earlier - she could tell just by taking a quick glance at the characters for "Watanabe Wasabi" clipped on his yukata - had charged at her at the speed of sound and, at the nick of time, flung the ornate chopsticks out of her hand, sending it clacking sharply against the floor.

"_Stop_." - all of a sudden, Wasabi felt a strong, bone-crushing grab at his shoulder. Gulping and squeezing his lime green eyes in pain, he quietly addressed: "Y... Yuuma?"

"Do I really have to repeat for the one millionth time that I allow absolutely _no _shameless behavior in my restaurant?" - said the male with pink hair also dressed in the black yukata uniform, greenish blue eyes radiating unfriendly impressions everywhere - "Especially to a _lady. _What the _heck _were you thinking in your sick little brain, Watanabe?"

The other man didn't have the guts to speak half a word, he just froze rock-hard on the spot. Letting go of Watanabe's thin shoulder, the restaurant owner, known as Kirigane Yuuma, fixed his steel eyes on Meiko, who was still shocked, and said to her in his steel cold voice: "I'm very sorry for this, Miss. Please enjoy your meal."

As the two disappeared behind the kitchen door, the brunette heaved a heavy sigh before bending down - rather uncomfortably as she was literally wrapped in thick layers of clothing - picking up the little amazing work of carpentry and placed those two sticks on the chopstick rest. She was thinking about finishing her sushi right that instant, but then she quickly set it aside and turned around to talk to her friend.

"Um, Rin, can you pour the sake for me?"

"Sure" - that being said, the pure liquid then instantly flowed into the brunette's porcelain cup. She thanked her friend quietly before bringing the cup of drink to her lips and starting to take a sip.

_Strange_. she thought. The sushi she ate a few minutes before was incredibly fantastic, yet the sake... it was so... _ordinary _to someone who was already too experience with this type of drink like her. It was in no way different from any kind of sake she'd drunk before.

_Oh come on, this restaurant make sushi, not sake! _she reminded herself. _Having fabulous food and ordinary sake is something too common in sushi restaurants! I shouldn't start worrying too much about this._

Or should she?

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**End of part 2**

**Behind the Scenes: Meiko asked Rin to pour sake for her because in Japanese culture, you can't pour it for yourself. Another person should do it for you and you should do the same for other people.**


	3. Sushi Arc III

"For God's sake, how many freaking times do I have to repeat that do _not_ get drunk in _my_ birthday party?! I just can't understand why a person like you exists, Rin! Now get up and go freaking home. Next time, I'm never ever ever ever _ever_ listening to _any_ of your "birthday advices" anymore!" - spitting poisonous words, the girl in kimono wrenched out every ounces of her physical strength to put her friend's limp arm over her shoulder, with a little help from Luka and Gumi. Yet, it seemed to be hardly going anywhere, since none of them expected the petite blonde to weigh as if made of pure lead.

"Do you need me to help you?" - said a tall male with short blue hair nearby.

"Thanks Kaito... Wait, you've just come in, right?" - gasped Meiko in utter shock when she came to recognize her genius classmate.

"It's okay, I'll eat later." - responded the other with a small smile before wrapping Rin's arm around the back of his neck and pulled her little body up with ease. Nothing else was exchanged between them as they, except Meiko, made their way out of the restaurant. The brunette, now truly panicking, nearly pushed everything on the table to the ground in search for her purse.

_Damn you. Damn all of you. Now I have to pay for everything huh? Happy birthday to me!_ thought the outraged kimono girl as she, with the ornate crimson chopsticks laced between her fingers as a result of her search before remembering her purse was in her handbag all along, slammed a total of 500 yens on the table. She then rudely shoved the purse back into her bag before storming out of the front door.

She didn't know she had put the chopsticks into her purse.

* * *

Meanwhile, behind the conveyor belt...

"I can't believe it." - muttered the pink-haired man, almost squishing the knife he was holding with his bare hands as the image of the male with blue hair taking the drunk girl out of the door reflected in his fiery eyes - "I did _not_ expect that His Majesty has returned."

"While I believe, Sir, that you mean _Her_ Majesty" - replied the mustard-green-haired waiter humbly as he found himself unable to take his sickening green eyes off of the brunette clad in several layers of kimono.

Immediately, the other found his eyes all welled up with red hot lava and his organs nearly exploding like a nuclear bomb. Letting a deafening scream burst out from his throat: "**SHUT UP!**", his swift hand of an expert sushi chef sent the lethally sharp knife in his right hand spearing through the air towards the waiter. It found itself a place to stay in the wall behind the mustard man, missing his head by as much as half a millimeter.

After a seemingly ten seconds of silence right after the surprise attack, when the green-haired male hadn't even yet recovered from the deadly shock, every single diner in the restaurant began _cheering._ For the "wonderful ninja knife trick".

* * *

**End of part 3**


	4. Chopsticks Arc I

Once upon a time...

There was an old, poor man living not far away from Heian-kyo. No one was sure how long he'd lived, but everyone was sure that he was famous in his neighborhood because of his kindness and his one-of-a-kind talent. Very few people had heard of his name, but everyone called him "Hashi-sama" for they were far too familiar with the masterpieces he made with his extremely skillful albeit wrinkly and dry hands. He crafted the finest pieces of art and craftsmanship in the shape of pairs of long, thin strips of bamboo, either painted an elegant black, or pure white; either plain or adorned with beautiful patterns; either just painted wood or decorated nicely with hints of gold. From normal citizens to rich nobles, no-one hadn't had the chance to just even touch one of his amazingly made chopsticks.

If anyone asked him if there'd been anything that could snatch his happiness away from him, he'd reply, as always, that, even though his wife had left for the next life long ago, he'd always be happy as long as the lovely bamboo forest was still there behind his little house, his hands could still craft and his eighteen-year-old daughter Matsuri was always as sweet.

Oh, yes, we can't forget dear Matsuri. The brunette seemed to inherit the charming beauty from her mother, the pure heart and astounding crafts skill from her father. Even her father found himself unable to believe her strangely fast learning and her ability to create chopsticks that sometimes even outshone his own. However, there was this certain thing about Matsuri that the old man hadn't even the foggiest idea about who she'd inherited from and caused him to frown many times.

"I can't find it in my heart to call her a glutton" - he said - "but it seems she favors food over men. She's respectful and caring towards me, but she always tends to eat all the food in our meals, leaving too little for me afterwards."

Wiping a drop of sweat on his forehead, he sighed particularly loudly as he took a final look at his newly made - and possibly best - work. It wasn't just a pair of chopsticks...

* * *

**End of part 4**

**CAST:**

**MEIKO** as _Matsuri_


End file.
